Building construction



P. PENTLAND Filed oct. 29, A192s;

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Aug. 30, 1932.

INVENTOR um] STATES Patented Aug. 30, 1932 PATENT orifice :PETER PENTLAND, or WEEHAWKEN, 'NEW JERSEY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Application led` October 29, 1928. Serial No. 315,775.

.A The invention relatesto a novel and useful improvement in'buildingl structures, a unit and instrumentality for forming said structures and to a method Vfor making said structures therefrom. More especially, the invention relates to the construction of buildings wher-ein a light, hollow foraminated member is employed as the support fora facing of hardening plastic material.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention' consists in the novel parts, construction, arrangements, combinations Vand improvements herein shown and described.

- The `accompanying drawing, referred to Vherein and constituting a part hereof, illustrates one embodiment of the invention, and

together with the description, serves to explain the principles of the invention.

Of the drawing :A Y

Fig. 1 is a section of a building unit in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section of a modified form of building unit; y p I Fig. 3 and Fig; 4: are sections of channellike retaining members, for use with theV units of Figs. l and 2; Y

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a wall or partition inaccordance with the invention.

Fig. 6 is an isometric view of a building unit; and Y Y Fig. 7 is a cross-section of a wall or partition in accordance with the invention. .K The inventionhas for its primary object the provision of a building unit which is readily assembled to form walls,vpartitions yand the like, and on which plaster or other suitable hardening, plastic facing material may be applied, securely retained and sup'- ported.y Another object is the provision of a light, rigid, wall or partition that can be readily and economically constructed and a method of making said structure which will eliminate studding and strutting of the walls, and at the same time produce a durable, and fireproof structure which is highly advantageous. Other advantages, flowing from the inven tion, will be readily apparent to those skilled inY the art and need not be specifically enumerated.

It will be understood that the foregoing general description, and the following detailed description as well, are exemplary and explanatory of the invention, but are not restrictive thereof.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, a building unit comprises a hollow substantially prismoidal member l, formed of foraminated, metallic, sheet material 8 such as wire fabric, sheet metal, metal mesh, or expanded metallath, bent upon itself to form the hollow body. In order that these members may be easily fitted together, they are preferably made as rectangular parallelopipeds, as shown in Fig. 6, and, when so made, may be easily and readily juxtaposed to form a wall, or partition, 6, having two relatively smooth exposed sides. For saving material and making the units as light as possible, the apertures in the sheet material of which the hollow units are formed are as large as is consistent with the required rigidity and strength.

These units are preferably formed from a single standard-sized sheet of foraminated material, of the type described, which is bent upon itself to form the hollow body 1, or may be woven in tubular or hollow formation.

Other forms of the units, which are made of the same or vsimilar material are shown diagrammatically by Fig. 2. For filling in spaces, of a size smaller than the width of the standard units shown inv Figs. 1 and 6, there is provided an open-'sides hollow unit 2,

RTI

which may be telescoped with the standard units 1 and fill in any desired space. Y For attaching the units to the floor and ceiling and securing them in the desired position, small channel-like members 'are provided as shown in Figs. 3 and 4:. The threesided trough-like member 3 of Fig; 3 may be used to secure the yends of elongated units 1 to the floor, and is made of such a width that its sides 9will snugly it over the ends of the standard units. These channel-like members are preferably formedv of foraminated material and may be secured to thefloor vby" nails V driven through' theirbottom or central portion 10. The channel-like member shown in Fig. 4 is particularly adaptedto securing-the upper ends of the standard unitsl andv 2 to the ceiling and as' embodied is formed'of a" sheet of foraminatedmateriali-.theedges.of

which are bent inwardly, to form margins 12,

and then :upwardly tofform retaining ,sidesl -13,.which fit overland' hold fthev ends .of the standard units. Thesefchannel-like members, Vfor-preventingl lateral displacement f* of the assembled unitsmay alsobe used at-thesides @forincreased rigidity. l v In assembling theseseveraljunits to form thejwall or partition,.a strip of the: channellike members `3 is securely fastened" to the floor along the line on which thewallis to be erected and securing membersev are attached4 to the ceiling directly over the members attached to thewfloor: When thesehave been correctlypositioned, the elongated prismoidalV units 1ere stood on end, withY ione kof their sides engaging the wall already erected, orpositioned latV the proper. point, the lower endbeing inserted withinthe channel kformed by thetrough-lilre member on the floor,-the

' upper end being insertedI within the upper channel; lPreferably a small gap is left in the upstanding edge ofone ofthe channels Y so 'that thetop end ofthe unit kmay be first Y the open-sidedmembers 2 k overthe put 'ein place, the bottom endof the unit pushed into the channel through the gap, and the unitl then slid'into its proper place along the channel.VV The next member is""'then' placed v with'its narrow side againsty the member al'- ready erected and its top and bottom endsse'- surelyplacedwithin the channels, fand lthey succeeding membersare ere'cted'in the same manner, fillingl out as nearlyv as possible the distance the wall is to run. e If there r'ernain's` other. I This may" be, i andv preferably-is, ac-

complished .byjoining the several sections tochief advantages.

gether with wire ties 5 passed through'sorne e of the perforations inv adjacent units, the wire being` twisted to'secure it in place.

If the units are shorter thank the height of the wall or partition vto be erected, short lengths ofthe necessary size are cut and used f to lilll out the space asneeded, the end Joints 14 being staggered, as shown in Fig. 5 so that the end joints alined. e v Y 'y After the units have been assembled, and

'or other hardening plastic material, maybe applied. One side of the wall or partition'- mayjbersteadied, andtheA plaster'or other facfing" material is'coated'fon the othe1'4`-side,itV beingpressed 1n, to a certain extent, so 1t will squeeze through the apertures in the foi-amvinated*material and securely bondA the facing layer to theass'embled units. By reasonof in yadjoiningrows will not bek securelytied together,the Lfacing of plaster, e

the.' projections 15, as soon asone side has been i completely e covered, and the facing material-V '1 Vhas partially set, the fassembledunitsl will present/suiiicient rigidity'so that vthe other sidevof the-wally orY partitioncan be faced without steadying the side already faced. 'w

When itis desired'to employ'a'iinishingv surface. .of brick, marble, tile-'or the like, the facing may be securely-attached kvto the units by means of the usual mortar, which will bond with theapertures of the unitsandadditional security mayl belobtained by imbedding metal ties, imbeddedA in the mortarjoints. j i Y `The units according tothe invention are highly advantageous, due@ to their light attachedtc thev units 1, and

eof

weight 'and greatly reducethe dead load in lire-proof construction. v

'Y The vinvention in its broader aspects'is notv limited to the speciiic mechanisms shown and described but departures may be 'made therefrom within the Yscope -of the accompanying claims without departing. from the principles f Y ofk the invention 'and without sacrificing its What I claim is 1 1f A wall'structure having a hollow framee i work metallic construction made into tubular form with substantiallyfiat sides, said units being assembled side by side'fwith their fadjacent flat sides secured together in abutting Work built up ofa pluralityof unitsgof open- `V relation for mutual support,V` the outer'fat sides falling into the sameplane for form-ing r12o l two substantially flat' Acontinuouswall Vfaces adaptedto becompletely covered with'a yfacing of plaster or the like, the said hollow framework v being con'lpletely concealedby the two :facings and providing a continuous airspace extendinghorizontally and vertically inside the wall,t nsfaidfacing-s beingi'braced and'spaced 'apart by-"the: said adjacent, `abut+ ting vflat sidesi;y g f A.u 22.11A wall rstructurecompcsed'of.a series of tubulr,metallic units havin gopenwork sides.'

and faces, said faces being substantially parallel to receive a coating, said units being arranged adjacent to each other with their sides abutting and secured together to form a continuous hollow structure with substantially parallel faces held apart by the adjacent open- Work sides of the tubular units, said substantially parallel faces forming a continuous surface adapted to receive a coating of plaster or like material which may be forced through the openwork to form a secure engagement with the tubular metallic units to form a Wall. a

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

PETER PEN TLAND. 

